Mass schooling for socialist transformation in Cuba and Venezuela

At first glance, the experiences of both Cuba and Venezuela seem to simply align with the current global emphasis on Education for All (EFA) as promoted by UNESCO and other international institutions and Non Governmental Organisations. Indeed, Venezuela cites its progress toward this and other Millennium Development Goals as evidence of the government's social and economic achievements (Asamblea Nacional, 2008; Republica Bolivariana de Venezuela, 2004). The modest educational MDGs however, seeking universal access to primary schooling by 2015, highlight the apparent incapacity of such basic social outcomes to be achieved in sites exploited first by colonial rulers, then devastated by the new imperialism of global capitalism and the accompanying imposition of neoliberal policy by the World Bank, International Monetary Fund and World Trade Organisation, to reduce public expenditure and shift the cost of services like education away from the State and onto individuals (Brock-Utne, 2007; Jones, 2007; Robertson, 2005). The educational policies and enacted practices of Cuba and Venezuela, as critical components of society-wide struggles against the capitalist system, are accompanied by social and economic policies that provide the necessary material preconditions for students' access to and democratic participation in education, typically overlooked in other educational reform projects. What Cuba and Venezuela clearly demonstrate is that with a fundamental shift in the political economy towards socialism, universal access to education, with a high degree of equity in terms of opportunity and outcomes, is something that can be achieved quite quickly